Since winning the Arkansas Governors Cup last march, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock continues to see entrepreneurship success as three UA Little Rock College of Business students recently took 2nd place at the international Ivey Business Plan Competition in Ontario Canada.
The team is comprised of Senior Finance and Economics major Noah Asher, Senior International Business and Management major, Abigail Resendiz, and Senior Economics major Zach Cochran. The group collaborated with Arkansas Cardiology Interventional Cardiologist Dwight Chrisman, and Baptist Health CV ICU Nurse Anna Helm, to commercialize a medical device invented by Dr. Chrisman.
The device named the “Speed-Torque” is designed to help Interventional Cardiologists perform minimally invasive heart surgery with greater safety and efficiency.
“It was an extremely close competition, with a lot of fantastic companies and entrepreneurs” said Asher. “We are of course disappointed with coming in second, but we are very happy with our performance and are excited to see how we do in competitions to come.”
The team is mentored by UA Little Rock adjunct professor and ASBTDC Business consultant Martial Trigeaud. “These are incredibly challenging competitions so to even be invited to travel to Ivey to compete is a success. I am very proud of what the team has accomplished and I am waiting for the next business plan competition,” said Trigeaud.
This same team of UA Little Rock College of Business students have been will be participating in several more competitions this year, including the Arkansas Governors Cup (Arkansas), the TCU Values and Ventures Competition (Texas), and the RICE Business Plan Competition (Texas).
To learn more about the UA Little Rock College of Business, please visit: https://ualr.edu/business/about-us/mission/
